Captively bred Amargosa voles. Photo credit: Nora Allen
Since 2014, CDFW-WIL has partnered with UC Davis in order to create and maintain a breeding colony of Amargosa voles essential to the recovery of the species. If interested in learning more about the history and progress of the colony, please read more here. Below is a video showing a few of the vole pups bred in captivity (Credit: Janet Foley).
In the Spring of 2016, CDFW (WIL and Region 6), UC Davis, BLM, USFWS, and many volunteers partnered to restore a key habitat patch utilized by the Amargosa vole. This habitat patch used to sustain the highest density of Amargosa voles in the world, but in 2010 it began to deteriorate due to changes in hydrology. The Amargosa vole team worked diligently to restore the water supply and reinvigorate vegetation growth at the marsh. Learn more about the Amargosa vole project.
[*Note from the lab’s Dr. Deana Clifford: Wev’e been a bit quiet for a while, but not because we’ve disappeared. We are re happy to start back up again with a 3 part special series updating everyone about our exciting multi-agency/academia/NGO effort to save the critically endangered Amargosa vole. Stay tuned-more posts coming from our activities including voles, fishers, and bighorn sheep!]
By Austin Roy (CDFW WIL Scientific Aid) & Anna Rivera (CDFW Volunteer)
Austin Roy at Site 1 in July 2014. Notice the degraded brown bulrush habitat on the right and only moderately healthy bulrush on the left. Photo by Risa Pesapane
Captive breeding can sometimes be an effective conservation method in the toolbox available to wildlife managers. It’s often employed as a last resort when other conservation efforts have not succeeded. Wild-caught animals are brought into a captive environment and mated for the purpose of increasing the species’ numbers and/or to create an insurance population in case the wild population goes extinct. Captive breeding programs have helped in recovery efforts for several endangered species including the California condor, black-footed ferret, island fox, and peregrine falcon.
Our research team from CDFW and UC Davis have been monitoring the population of the endangered Amargosa vole (Microtus californicus scirpensis). In July, we observed that the habitat of the marsh where most remaining voles live was rapidly degrading. At the same time, vole numbers were rapidly increasing as part of a normal birth pulse cycle. The shrinking marsh was not going to be able to support the number of voles being born so we consulted with our collaborators in the Amargosa vole working group (the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Geological Survey, and UC Berkeley) and brought 20 young voles (that would have likely died in the wild) into captivity to try to establish an insurance population of voles.
Amanda Poulsen (UC Davis Graduate Student) places voles in indoor quarantine cages upon arrival at UC Davis. Photo by Austin Roy
Ten males and 10 females were brought to UC Davis and placed into indoor quarantine in late July 2014. Individuals underwent disease and genetic testing to decide which individuals would be paired for mating. After quarantine, voles were placed into pairs for mating.
In October, we successfully weaned our first litter of Amargosa vole pups! This is the first step to expanding the captive population to the point when animals can begin to be released into the wild to supplement the wild population. The voles are currently being housed indoors, but we are in the process of creating outdoor pens for the voles where they will experience conditions more closely resembling their natural marsh environment.
While a small step has been made towards the recovery of this endangered species and the path forward remains long, our team remains committed to saving the Amargosa vole.
Click on the links below to read about the Amargosa vole captive breeding program and see more pictures:
By Tom Batter, WIL Scientific Aid
Today we feature an article that looks at how the Department of Fish & Game utilized controlled burns as a management tool. As the article states, fire has influenced plant and animal species for centuries. It is a common misconception that many animals are killed by fire. In fact the primary effect fire has on wildlife is habitat alteration. Some plant species have actually adapted to cope with fire. This article mentions pyriscence as an example. Pyriscence is when the maturation and release of seeds is fully or partially triggered by smoke and/or fire resulting in new plant crops.
Managing habitat with fire also reduces fire risk by lowering the fuel load. Large fuel loads -dead plant material and brush build up- that are allowed to accumulate over time cause fires to burn hotter and spread more rapidly. These are the types of wildfires that are more likely to become dangerous and destructive to people and property.
Using fire as a tool is still an important technique in managing habitat for various species of plants and animals today. This article originally appeared in the November-December issue of Outdoor California in 1973.
Dr. Colleen Duncan from Colorado State University and Dr. Ben Gonzales from California Department of Fish and Wildlife collect biological samples from bighorn sheep for disease testing. (Photo courtesy of George Kerr, Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep)
Early November 2013 was a busy time for Wildlife Investigations Laboratory staff. Two important disease surveillance projects for bighorn sheep were conducted in the Mojave National Preserve in San Bernardino County and the Peninsular Ranges in San Diego and Imperial Counties. A total of 91 sheep were captured, GPS collared for monitoring and biological samples taken so that a variety of disease tests could be done. One significant test is for Mycoplasma ovipnenumonia, a bacteria that caused a bighorn die-off in the Mojave earlier this year. Scientists will use the laboratory results (still pending) to determine the cause of the disease and to document the number of animals involved and the geographic extent of the outbreak.
These projects could not have been conducted without the many partners involved including; The National Park Service, the Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep, California Wild Sheep Foundation, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon State University and Colorado State University.
Taking blood samples from bighorn sheep for use in disease testing. (Photo courtesy of George Kerr, Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep)
Inspecting bighorn for signs of respiratory distress. (Photo courtesy of George Kerr, Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep)
Over the past 12 months, the Wildlife Investigations Laboratory has been asking the public for their assistance in reporting wildlife mortality events. WIL recognizes that mortality reports are an important tool in monitoring the health of the State’s wildlife. Wildlife mortality reports can:
WIL received 30 mortality reports submitted by the public from July 2012 – June 2013. These reports documented mortalities in 21 different species and have been added to a permanent record so that we may potentially be able to detect phenomena such as seasonal mortality trends or weather mortality events in the future.
Mortality Reports: July 2012 – June 2013
CDFW – WIL Wildlife Mortality Reports, 2012-2013
Public reporting makes a valuable contribution to the information we are trying to collect and is an important source for disease outbreak monitoring and emerging health threats. Please help us monitor the fish and wildlife populations in California.
For more information on wildlife mortality reporting, please follow the links below.
California wildlife mortality reports:
http://dfg.ca.gov/LivingWithWildlife/Mortality/
California roadkill tracking:
http://www.wildlifecrossing.net/california/
Wildlife heath information:
By Jaime Rudd, WIL Scientific Aid
Spring is a transformative season in California’s Colorado Desert. The mild weather and gentle rains that trickle down during this time of year are what entices the desert flora and fauna to awaken from their dormancy.
California’s Colorado Desert. This desert is a subdivision of the larger Sonoran Desert that encompasses Arizona, southeastern California, most of the Baja California peninsula, the islands of the Gulf of California, and much of the state of Sonora, Mexico. Map image courtesy of http://www.grabovrat.com. Inset photo courtesy of Jaime Rudd.
Colorful desert flowers come into bloom and sweeten the air as moths, butterflies, bees and other insects bustle about collecting pollen all the while fertilizing each blossom. Various desert reptiles come out from torpor and sprawl upon the sand as the sun’s rays rest upon their backs. The invertebrates and small mammals, when not offering new life of their own, are out collecting seeds and eating the newly arrived vegetation. It is also the time of year when the mild-mannered spring desert welcomes the next generation of desert kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis).
A mated pair of desert kit foxes. The male (top photo), stretches after a night of hunting for both his mate (bottom photo) and himself. These foxes both serve as disease sentinels in the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s (CDFW) desert kit fox disease monitoring project. Each fox is equipped with a radio collar that emits a unique frequency allowing biologists to monitor their survival after an outbreak of canine distemper virus (CDV) occurred in this desert valley the year before. Photo courtesy of CDFW, Region 6.
Monogamous in nature, kit foxes form pair-bonds that can be lifelong. During the early stage of pup-rearing and care, the female will hermit herself inside the den. Her mate is busier than usual, setting out to hunt for two, returning to the den with prey.
This female desert kit fox keeps a close eye on her den. She has 4 pups that her and her mate have been diligently been providing for. Photo courtesy of CDFW, Region 6.
Once the pups are old enough, they are coaxed from their subterranean shelter under the watchful eye of their parents.
Already a couple of months old, the pups begin to explore a bit more while their parents remain close by. Photo courtesy of CDFW, Region 6.
At nearly 3 months old, these pups are gaining more independence. While neither parent is seen in the photograph, they remain nearby. Photo courtesy of CDFW, Region 6.
The pups will continue to stay with their parents for the duration of spring and early summer. The later summer months bring with it heat, independence, and all too often difficult life lessons. It is in these later months that the journey into adulthood and harsh desert introductions may end for some.
Remote cameras captured these images of a bobcat (Lynx rufus, top photo) and a coyote (Canis latrans, bottom photo) passing through a desert kit fox den complex. Photo courtesy of CDFW, Region 6.
But for now, the season is young and it is still a time when the desert truly gives life, both day and night.
This male desert kit fox looks over his 4 pups on a cool desert evening. Sunset is one of the most active times for desert kit foxes as the adults prepare to leave their den complexes (and their young) for an evening hunt. Photo courtesy of CDFW, Region 6.
The Wildlife Investigations Laboratory would like to thank Jose Figueroa & David Elms from our Region 6 CDFW office for the wonderful photos captured by remote camera. Remote cameras have been a useful, non-invasive tool for biologists to detect animal presence and monitor the health and physical condition of these desert dwellers. All the photos featured in this story belong to a single mated pair that is being monitored as part of CDFW’s desert kit fox disease monitoring efforts in Riverside County.
